Lesson 626: How to Love
by pipermclean-beautyqueen
Summary: When they met, they were both haunted by their dark pasts. But maybe, they could teach each other how to love. AU


**I've been on fanfiction for a year now! To celebrate, I'm starting this new story.**

**The first two chapters will be sort of an intro. It'll start getting better in the third chapter. I hope you enjoy this story :)**

* * *

_She wasn't scared, really. She just tired. _

_An angry shout from downstairs shattered the silence, which almost disappointed her. She had been enjoying the silence._

_The young girl didn't really know why she was hiding. Usually, she didn't. But this time, she had squeezed herself into the back corner of the closet, letting the long coats hang in front of her, like a flimsy attempt at a shield. She was only delaying the inevitable. _

_His booming footsteps were getting louder. She waited for the creak of the door, signaling that he was in the spare bedroom where she was waiting. He would find her sooner or later._

_Until then, she curled up into a ball, hugging her scrawny legs, and rested her head on her knees. She was exhausted, and wanted desperately to fall asleep. She couldn't though. Who knew what he would do to her if he found her asleep._

_There it was. The slow creak of the door. It wouldn't take him long to find her now._

* * *

"This is for you, Mom," the girl whispered to herself bitterly.

She pumped her arms furiously as she rounded the bend. The thin white scar that ran down her right arm seemed to be glowing in a nearly inhuman way.

As she ran, she felt all her troubles evaporate. A small smile grew on her lips, replacing the scowl that had scarred her face before. She didn't stop when her legs started burning. She didn't stop when her lungs were screaming from the lack of air.

She only forced her legs to push harder.

She was running. She was elated. She was free.

Soon, she was met by a familiar wooden fence. Only then did she finally slow down to a walk. As she strode up the steep hill to her home, she wrapped her arms around her small body in a desperate attempt to trap any of the heat she had radiating off of her. Without running to keep her warm, Colorado's October mornings felt far too chilly. A warm shower before school would fix that though.

Taking out a tarnished key from her pocket, she let herself into her home. The only light came from the rising sun, meaning she was the only one awake. It also meant that she would get all the hot water. With a smug smile on her face, she bounded up the stairs to the bathroom.

She reached back behind her head to let loose her messy ponytail. Her hair wasn't the easiest to control, but tying her hair back did keep it from flying in her face while she ran. Subconsciously humming an unidentifiable tune to herself, she stepped into the bathroom, only to find herself face to face with her mother.

"Annabeth!" her mother exclaimed. "Good thing you're awake." Annabeth felt an urge to roll her eyes at her mother, but refrained from doing so. Despite having spoken to her half a billion times about running every morning, her mother hasn't yet seemed to grasp that idea.

"I need you to stay home and watch Bobby and Matthew today after school. I'll be working tonight." Annabeth nearly groaned when she heard her mother's words. She knew what her mom was really saying. She would be... well, _busy_.

"Mom, there's track practice after school. I told you yesterday, remember? I have to practice so I'll be ready for the track meet next week," she reminded, just like she did before every other track meet.

Mrs. Chase only shrugged. "You can skip one practice, right? After all, your brothers are far more important than running."

Annabeth's fists clenched at her sides. Tempted to voice the question she desperately wanted to say, she bit down on her lip, knowing it was pointless to argue against her mother. Shouldn't her children be more important than "working"?

"Alright," she said, maybe a little too bitterly. "I'll skip track today." Just like every other week.

Her mother's smile seemed so disgustingly sweet. Annabeth hated it. "See? Now that wasn't so hard. You can go to track next time." As she strode past her daughter, her nose scrunched up and she frowned. "And take a shower. You're all sweaty and you smell horrible."

* * *

The area desperately needed more schools and more school buses. The town wasn't very populated, but with every single high school student going to the same school in a maximum of four buses, it was bound to get at least a little crowded. Usually, three people got squished into one seat.

Though she tried to only pay attention to her music, the rowdy group of students could drown out any earphones. Groaning, she blasted her music louder. She was getting tired of listening to students swear at each other.

Looking around her, she realized there were probably around sixty students on the bus that day. It pretty much ruined the purpose of her shower that morning. The strong smell of sixty teenagers crammed into one bus, mixed with the smell of leather and bus fumes, wasn't all that enjoyable.

Beside her was a sophomore who Annabeth barely knew. From what she heard in the halls, the tenth grader's name started with a 'C'. That, and the fact that he had enough sense to use deodorant, was all Annabeth needed to know about him.

None of her friends were on the same bus as her. They were all on 'Bus A', the only bus with functioning air conditioning. Lucky them. Of course, there was Percy Jackson. He didn't really count as a friend though. He was more of a person who was friends with her friends.

When the bus arrived at the grey brick school, Annabeth nearly sprinted off the bus. Swinging the school's front doors wide open, she stepped inside, feeling a burst of heat. She scanned over the crowd of students, trying to figure out the best way to get to her locker, which happened to be in the opposite side of the school. It seemed like the entire student body was hanging out at the front of the school.

After shoving and squeezing through the crowd, she reached her locker. She unlocked it and began to get ready for her classes.

"Hey," said a voice behind her. Annabeth spun around and was met by the electric blue eyes of her best friend, Thalia Grace. The one good part of having a locker in the "ghetto hallway", as students nicknamed it, was the fact that all her closest friends had lockers there as well.

"Hey," Annabeth said back with a smile. Thalia returned a small smile before swinging open her locker. Looking around, Annabeth realized that they were alone. "Where are Silena and Rachel?"

"Same place as yesterday," Thalia replied with a smirk. Annabeth nodded in understanding. Rachel would be talking to her math teacher, asking about extra help. It wasn't that Rachel wasn't a bright student, it was just that math wasn't her strongest subject. Of course, that wasn't the reason Thalia was smirking.

Silena, the only senior in our group, had a crush on Charles Beckendorf since her freshman year. Even though she was the one that everyone went to for relationship advice, Silena never went any further with her relationship than following him around all the time. Yup, Silena spends every morning stalking him.

"Guys!" They turned around to see a boy with curly brown hair running towards them. "Do you know where Percy is?" he asked. "He's not by his locker."

Annabeth racked her brain, trying to remember where Percy went after he got off the bus. "He went to the office," she finally said. Then, she frowned. "At least, I'm pretty sure he did."

Grover's nose scrunched up and his eyebrows knitted close together in confusion. "Why would he go to the office?" Annabeth shrugged, just as confused herself. Groaning, Grover whined, "But we were supposed to finish our history project together! Now what am I supposed to do?"

"Shouldn't you two have finished it yesterday?" Thalia teased. The three teens eyed each other for a second before all burst out laughing. The day Grover and Percy do their homework on time is the day pigs fly. In other words: not happening.

"You don't have history until fourth period, right? Well you two have first and second period together, just work on it then. You guys always say that you do nothing in English class anyway," Annabeth pointed out.

Grover thought for a second before a look of realization flashed on his face. "You're right!" he exclaimed. Suddenly, they heard the shrill ringing of the bell. "Thanks Annabeth!" Grover yelled behind him as he ran off to his own locker.

"You better run like Goat Boy. You don't want to be late for Mr. Brunner's class again," Thalia said. "What happens if you're late again?"

"Brunner claimed he would tell Foster, who can't do anything since I can't go to track practice today anyway." A bitter tone returned to Annabeth's voice as she thought about her conversation with her mother that morning. Coach Foster was not going to be happy.

Thalia looked sympathetic. "Babysitting again?" she asked. Annabeth nodded before picking up her books.

"Let's just get to class. There's nothing to do here anyway," she muttered. After pulling each other into a quick hug, they went their separate ways to their separate classes.

Mr. Brunner was the kind of teacher that everyone wanted to have. Students in his class would tell their younger siblings to pray that they would get a chance to be in his class as well. He was probably the only reason half the juniors and seniors at Goode High were still taking Latin. Maybe it was because he was twenty-six and could relate to the students better than other teachers. Or maybe it was just that he was a pretty cool guy.

Annabeth had gotten lucky that year, having Mr. Brunner for both Latin and history. And since she was the top student in both classes, it was easy to tell that she was his favourite student, despite the whole "teachers love all students equally!" thing they always say.

"Morning guys," Mr. Brunner said to the class as he walked in right at the bell. "Okay, just let me take the attendance," he said while scanning over his desk.

Mountains of papers whose heights challenged the Rockies on the horizon covered every inch of his desk. "Once I find it, of course," he added. As well as being the most popular teacher, he was the most disorganized.

Knowing that this would probably take at least a good ten minutes, the class erupted with chattering as Mr. Brunner continued his search. Annabeth laid her head on the desk, waiting for class to continue.

Suddenly, the door creaked open and a head covered in a mass of dark hair peeked inside. All the chatting stopped and even Annabeth raised her head to watch as the boy walked over to Mr. Brunner.

"Ms. Gottschalk told me to give this to you," he said, referring to the school's elderly vice principle. He held out a letter to Mr. Brunner.

The teacher scanned it over. Then, looking up, he smiled at the boy. "Looks like Percy Jackson will be joining us for the remainder of the year," he said to the class. To Percy, he said, "You can choose any of the empty seats."

Percy looked over the room. Calling Percy "hot" or "popular" would be an understatement. It was clear that every girl in the school would kill for the chance to run their fingers through his thick raven hair. The entire school knew he was trained in every sport imaginable, especially swimming, and it showed.

From his perfectly formed legs to the six-pack everyone knew was hiding under his blue Abercrombie shirt, he could have been a god. He was already at least the god of Goode High. The entire student body worshipped him.

There was an empty seat right beside Kennedy, the school's head slut and cheerleader, who flipped her perfect chestnut curls over her shoulder. She was giving Percy a ridiculously huge smile, showing off her bleached white teeth. Percy gave a quick nod in her direction, making her swoon. Who wouldn't in her situation? The class knew he would go sit next to her.

Which was why everyone was so shocked when he chose the seat behind Annabeth.

Percy flicked his perfect head towards her, running his perfect hand through his perfect hair. With his perfect legs, he strode over to his desk, giving her one of his perfect smiles along the way.

He was the very image of perfection. Annabeth hated it.

It was his only imperfection, his eyes, that Annabeth loved. They made him look older, like he had been to hell and back, but survived. As the drowning sea-green eyes locked into her own grey eyes, her breath got caught in her throat.

But of course, he had everything going for him. There was no possible reasons why his eyes should look as mature as his did. It had always confused Annabeth, but she had shrugged it off.

Because there was no way his life was as torturous as her own.

"So, I haven't had any classes with you for two years," Percy whispered as the lesson started. Annabeth could feel his hot breath tickling the back of her neck as he spoke.

Annabeth nodded. "Yeah, I know," she said, trying to convince herself that this should be awkward. They've barely said two words to each other since they've met, and now he was willingly sitting behind her, starting a conversation.

"I probably would have failed grade nine math if it wasn't for you," he said with a low chuckle.

Annabeth turned her head slightly so that she would be able to see his face. "Not that I don't like being in the same class as you, but why'd you switch classes?" she asked.

He leaned forward a bit so it would be easier to hear each other. "I don't know, something about needing another credit for an elective or something. I went to the office this morning to change my schedule."

Annabeth thought for a second, then nodded. His explanation made sense. She was about to say something else when Mr. Brunner interrupted her thoughts.

"Percy, have you already found a girl to hit on? It' hasn't even been ten minutes," he said in a serious tone, though he had an amused grin on his face. Some students laughed. Kennedy glared.

"I might have to move either Annabeth or you if you're going to continue." Annabeth blushed, and rested her face in her hands to mask her scarlet cheeks. Percy, however, just smiled.

"Annabeth's helping me get caught up," he lied, far more casually than Annabeth could have. When Mr. Brunner gave him a skeptical look, he added, "Wow, I've missed a lot."

Mr. Brunner sighed, and then gave him a small smile. "Alright, but this 'getting caught up' should only take five more minutes."

Percy gave him a salute with his hands. "Yes, sir."

As Mr. Brunner went on with his lesson, Annabeth turned her chair around so that she wouldn't have to break her neck to look at Percy. "Maybe I should actually help you get caught up," she said, putting her Latin binder down on his desk.

As he leaned back in his seat, his muscular shoulders shrugged. "Maybe. Or maybe we can just talk for five minutes. After all, you have nearly all day to get me caught up. I have more than half my classes with you," he said.

"How do you know?" Annabeth asked. Percy's never seen her schedule, and he definitely wasn't a stalker. At least, she was pretty sure he wasn't.

Percy saw the confused look on her face, and explained, "Grover told me. I ran into him before class and showed him my new schedule. I think he has everyone's schedules memorized." Annabeth smiled, knowing what Percy had said was true.

There had been a fire in elementary school, and while most students got out safely, no one could find Thalia. It turned out she was in the art room, but none of her friends had known that. She had gotten out safely, but ever since then, Grover memorized every one of his friends' schedules. In the group of friends, Goat Boy had somehow become the protective brother.

"Hey, and swim and track practices are today. Maybe we can just chill together after?" Percy asked hopefully. Annabeth groaned. She had forgotten that both the swim and track team had practices Tuesdays after school. Unfortunately for her, she was stuck home with the two blonde devils.

"Sorry, but I have to skip track again," she said, exasperation evident in her voice. Seeing the confused look on Percy's face, she added, "I have to babysit my brothers. But trust me, I'd rather be at practice. I've only been to one track practice since school started."

Percy thought for a moment, considering what she had just said. "How about I babysit them? I've been to every single swim practice, and Coach loves me," he said in a slightly cocky tone. "You can go to track today."

Annabeth raised her eyebrows. "Really? Are you sure?" she questioned.

Percy nodded. "Yeah. How hard can it be to take care of them? I happen to be a very accomplished babysitter," he bragged with a smug grin on his face. Annabeth stared at him, trying to figure out whether he was being sarcastic or not.

"Alright, if you're sure," she said, when she was once again interrupted by their teacher.

"Percy, has Annabeth caught you up yet?" Mr. Brunner asked from the front of the room. Every head in the class turned to face them as he spoke.

Percy nodded his head. "Yeah. I'm all caught up now."

Before she turned back around, Annabeth leaned towards Percy. "Oh, and by the way," she whispered, "my brothers, Bobby and Matthew, are identical twins. Good luck with this."

Annabeth stood up and turned her chair back around so that she was facing the front, nearly laughing at the look on Percy's face. So, there was something that Mr. God of Goode High couldn't handle.

She sat down, smiling as she watched Mr. Brunner began to tell the class about a new project that would be given the next day. Percy didn't say another word to her all of class, and she didn't say anything else to him either.

She would never have guessed at that moment how much those five minutes would change her life in ways she couldn't even dream of. All because of Percy Jackson.

* * *

**In case you haven't realized, the 626 in the title is just from Lilo and Stitch, my favourite Disney movie (well, the only one I've seen, which makes it my favourite). **

**Review Question: What's your favourite Disney movie?**

**Tell me the answer in your review and don't forget to add what you thought of the chapter. Thanks guys!**


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